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Rally scoring to 21, service order, court switches, and how a match is won
Beach volleyball uses rally scoring. Every completed rally gives one team a point, including the team that was receiving. Keep the set on a volleyball scoreboard: beach to 21, indoor to 25, both won by 2.
A team scores a point when:
A fault is a playing action that breaks the rules, or any other rule violation. The referees decide which fault counts.
If one team faults and then the other team faults a moment later, only the first fault counts. If both teams fault at the same time, it is a double fault and the rally is replayed. Neither team scores.
A rally starts when the server hits the ball and ends when the ball is out of play.
A completed rally is one that ends with a point. That includes a penalty, and a serve that is hit after the server's time has already run out.
If the serving team wins the rally, it scores a point and serves again. If the receiving team wins the rally, it scores a point and serves next.
Sets 1 and 2 are won by the first team to 21 points with a lead of at least 2 points.
At 20-20, play continues until one team leads by two: 22-20, 23-21, 24-22, and so on. There is no cap.
The third set, if it is needed, is played to 15 points, still with a 2-point lead. At 14-14, play continues until someone leads by two.
The match is the first team to win two sets. If the teams split the first two sets, they play a deciding third set to 15.
Teams also change ends during a set, based on the combined score. When that happens is in Interruptions and Delays.
A team that is summoned and refuses to play defaults the match, 0-2, with each set recorded 0-21. A team that does not show up on time also defaults.
If a team becomes incomplete during a set or a match, it loses that set or that match. This happens when a player is injured and cannot return, or when a player is expelled or disqualified. There is no substitute to send in.
The incomplete team keeps the points and sets it already has. The opponent is given the points still needed to win the set, or the points and sets still needed to win the match.
A default for refusing to play or missing the start is different. That result is 0-2 and 0-21, 0-21. The team does not keep points already scored, because the match never properly starts.
For FIVB, World, and Official competitions that use pool play, the event's own regulations can change how defaults and incomplete teams are recorded.
Before the warm-up, the first referee tosses with the two captains.
The winner chooses one of these:
The other captain takes whatever is left.
In set 2, the captain who lost the first toss gets the choice. Before the deciding set, the referee tosses again.
If the teams already had another court to use, they get 3 minutes of official warm-up at the net. If they did not, they get 5 minutes.
Both players are always in the match. At the moment the server contacts the ball, everyone except the server has to be on their own court. The server is in the service zone, behind the end line.
Players can stand anywhere on that court. There are no assigned zones, no front row, and no back row. There is no positional fault for overlap, because there is no overlap rule.
The partner still has to be inside the court when the serve is contacted. Standing in the free zone at that moment is a fault.
After the serve, players can move anywhere, including into the free zone to play the ball, as long as they follow the contact and net rules in Playing Actions.
The captain sets the service order right after the toss. That order stays for the whole set, and it is what the scorer writes down.
Here is how the two players share the serve:
The rulebook calls that change a rotation. With two players and no fixed positions, it means they take turns serving. They do not walk through zones the way a six-player team does.
If the wrong player serves, the team loses the rally: the opponent gets a point and the serve.
The scorer is supposed to show the correct order and fix a wrong server before the whistle. Once the wrong player has served, the fault stands. Points already played in the set are not wiped out.